According to Jeffrey Cole, Director of the USC Annenberg Centre for the Digital Future, the spread of high-speed broadband is a major factor in revolutionary changes in cultural consumption (of products, such as movies, television/ video, books, magazines, music, art and museum exhibits). Technologically, this revolution is driven not only by the new services enabled by greater bandwidth but also by the always on nature of high-speed connectivity. The revolution involves a shift in consumer perceptions of the Internet from an instrument of communication and information to a medium of entertainment, culture and self-expression. This paper will draw on comprehensive national surveys of Internet use in Canada and Australia. The two countries are similar in culture but are at different stages of Broadband adoption, making the comparisons particularly apt. Within Canada, we are able to compare responses to Canadian Internet Project surveys in 2004 and 2007. The analysis will focus on the following variables: Cultural consumption activities, such as downloading of videos and music; shifts from traditional to new media as sources of entertainment; willingness to pay for / subscribe to Internet services; incidence and frequency of online content production and participation in online social networks. We will compare the reported behaviour of Internet users and non-users, those with or without home broadband access, experience with and intensity of Internet use, age and life stage, as well as other demographic differences, to help build a profile of different types of cultural consumer.

Publication type

Book chapter

Source

Compendium of Research Papers: selected papers from the International Forum on the Creative Economy, Gatineau, Quebec, Canada, 17-18 March 2008,
pp. 211-219